Jose Manuel Mireles Valverde

Jose Manuel Mireles Valverde was a Mexican man from Michoacan who became a member of the Autodefensas, a self-defense vigilante group that fought against the murderous Knights Templar Cartel during the 2010s.

Biography
Jose Manuel Mireles Valverde was from Tepalcatepec, Michoacan, Mexico, and he worked as a medical doctor. In 1988, he served time in prison for either selling marijuana or practicing medicine without an active state license, and he briefly worked as a social activist in the United States before running for the Mexican Senate in 2006. In 2013, he formed a self-defense group in Michoacan to protect his family after three men were beheaded by the Knights Templar Cartel in Tepalcatepec, and his Autodefensas fought back against the cartels with weapons. When he planned to join the government rural police, some members of the Autodefensas distanced themselves from him and joined other militias, but on 27 June 2014 Mireles was arrested by the government for illegal firearm use. In 2016, he apologized for speaking for distrust against the government, and his charges were dropped; however, he remained in jail for a period afterwards.